


enough

by soggywormcircus



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Canon-Typical Violence, Character Study, Gen, cora gets her heart back and has thirty seconds to figure out what the hell that means for her, sort of? this is another one of the weird incoherent introspective works y'all
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-09
Updated: 2020-10-09
Packaged: 2021-03-08 04:54:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 947
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26919919
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/soggywormcircus/pseuds/soggywormcircus
Summary: Cora never thought about how it might feel to have her heart back in her chest. It was difficult to explain, but once you rip out your own heart, you stop wondering what might have been or what could one day happen. You only focus on what is, and what you want, and how you get it.So no, she never thought about how it would feel. That was the one thing she didn't want. To feel.And yet, she never would have expected it to hurt this much.
Relationships: Evil Queen | Regina Mills & Queen of Hearts | Cora
Comments: 2
Kudos: 4





	enough

**Author's Note:**

> i've been rewatching ouat with some friends over the past few months and cora's death scene is STILL one of my favourite scenes in the whole show. it just slaps so much. so i went and rambled about it a little. enjoy!

Cora never thought about how it might feel to have her heart back in her chest. It was difficult to explain, but once you rip out your own heart, you stop wondering what might have been or what could one day happen. You only focus on what is, and what you want, and how you get it. 

That was always what Cora was best at. Wanting things. Wanting power, and getting it. Wanting her daughter beside her, and getting her. That was what she did, and that was all. 

It didn't matter that it never was enough. That no matter what Cora got into her hands, she always wanted more. It was ecstatic and infuriating and so, so tiring. And it never stopped. 

So no, she never thought about how it would feel to get her heart back. That was the one thing she didn't want. To feel. 

And yet, she never would have expected it to hurt this much. 

Her vision actually blacks out for a moment. Cora is probably too old for her own good, but she still can't remember ever having been in this much pain in her entire life. 

She doesn't notice that her legs are giving in until she's on the floor. Her limbs are shaking and she can barely breathe and there's a high-pitched noise in her ears that simply won't go away and then- 

And then-

And then and then and then and then and then and then and then and then- 

And then Regina is there, above Cora's dying body. It's just too much. It hurts. It hurts. 

Cora smiles. She feels like she's being crushed by a tidal wave. There's so many sensations, strands of Regina's hair on her face and her hands on her arms and tears spilling from her eyes and her voice, calling so loud- 

For this one moment, Cora's last moment, it feels like everything is happening at once. Cora is holding Regina, tiny and fragile and entirely innocent, Cora crushes Daniel's heart and watches her daughter come undone in front of her, Cora pounds the glass of the mirror but there's no way out at all, Cora smiles at Snow White and the girl trusts her completely, Cora hurts people and kills people and in the middle there's her daughter, alone and bitter, and it all happens at the same time, only this time it feels, and Cora feels  _ everything-  _

Cora loves her daughter. Oh. 

Cora  _ loves  _ her daughter. 

This was something she'd always known, from the day Regina was born to the day she started hating her. 

She's always known, but this is the first moment she actually, really, finally gets to love her. 

And yes, it hurts, and it's too much for one heart, especially for one as old and brittle as hers. But god, Cora never ever wants to give this away ever again. 

It's too bad that she's going to die. 

But Regina is here now, and Cora cares so much. She reaches out for her daughter and her heart feels so full that it must be about to explode. 

‘What’s wrong? What’s happening?’, Regina is stammering. She looks so much like Cora did when she was younger. 

Cora is in so much pain, her vision is cracking at the edges like a mirror. She smiles, the widest and most sincere smile her daughter has ever seen. It hurts at the corners of her mouth and Cora tastes blood on her tongue but it doesn't matter. Because Regina is right there, and all that Cora did was blink once and now this little girl is all grown up and she's strong and she's dangerous and a force of nature and she _ loves  _ with a fierceness that Cora is so, so proud of. 

Speaking hurts, almost as if her wrong and diseased heart is spreading its  _ bad  _ throughout her body, just now reaching her throat. She does so anyway, because she has so little time and she's about to leave Regina by herself forever and it's not right and it's not fair that she only gets to love her for such short a moment and that she has to leave her here, with no one else to hold on to and it's not  _ right- _

'This,' Cora rasps, forcing the words out with an intensity that doesn't translate to the soft in her eyes, 'would have been enough.' 

As soon as the words leave her lips she realises how true they are. Cora isn't usually in the habit of- well, not lying. She's gotten so good at it she's sometimes wondered if something like a truth even still existed within her. 

It must have, because now it's spilling all over her and probably leaving stains on the carpet in Rumplestiltskin's shop.

Regina is frowning; she doesn't understand. Cora can't-

Cora can't leave before Regina understands. 

And everything she has to give is too little, and too late, and it hurts almost as much as the heart eating away at the rest of her. She can't do anything to make this right, nothing except try, to maybe-

'You,' Cora says, and Regina's eyes widen and she looks so, so  _ young _ , 'you would have been enough.'

The last thing Cora sees before she dies is the smile, slowly spreading over Regina's face. It looks hesitant, like it's not sure if it belongs there. Like it's not sure it can stay. 

None of this matters, anyway. Because it's enough. 

It won't last, and Regina will forget it as soon as Cora closes her eyes. But for now, like Regina and her hand in Cora's and Cora's sad and brittle and festering heart, it's enough.

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading!


End file.
